The Craft of Conrad

Driven by his concern for the tortuous human pursuit of Oideal values,O Joseph Conrad sometimes tells more than he shows. He indulged his talent for philosophical speculation, and critics usually follow that lead. They fix their attention on broad themes (imperialism, nihilism, etc.), with only passing reference to literary strategies. But fiction is not philosophy. This study, rather than rehash the Obig ideasO that preoccupy most commentators, focuses on technique, ConradOs ingenious variations on a recurring narrative plan animated by images mingling light with darkness and by exhilarating rhetoric. Paradox shapes the narrative plan, the images, and the rhetoric. The story OdesignO unfolds a test of manhood with ironic consequences; characters oscillate between impulsive desires and elevated moral convictions, degrading the shadowy standard they desperately try to enact; the rhetoric proposes certainties and yet uncovers negations, vacillations, and contradictions. As one of ShakespeareOs characters says, OI would by contraries execute all things.O Appropriately, ConradOs images bring together, or alternate between, clarity and obscurity. The geographical settings are often exotic, but natureOs most Ocommon everydayO visual facts, light and darkness, become the authorOs chief pictorial reference. Conrad exploits the coupling of Osunshine and shadowsO not only as antagonists but also, surprisingly, as paradoxical partners. That coupling may be his most original artistic contribution.